For 73-year-old bachelor and Gandhian,Kisan Baburao Hazare aka Anna Hazare,it has been a long journey from being a soldier in the Indian Army to taking on politicians on the Lokpal Bill to curb corruption in the country. After the 1962 war with China,the Indian government had made a fervent appeal to the youth to join the Army. Hazare was one of those who responded and joined in 1963 as a soldier. During the India-Pakistan war in 1965,he was posted in the Khemkaran sector,where Pakistani fighter jets bombarded Indian positions. Hazare survived the attack but saw his colleagues die,making him pledge that he would remain a bachelor and serve the country in a bigger way after what he considered was a new lease of life. He,however,remained in the Army until he completed 15 years of service and was entitled for pension. But even before he retired,he thought of doing something for his village,where most of the land was barren and villagers migrated in search of a livelihood. In 1975,he initiated a transformation of the village through watershed development using nallah bands,check dams and contour trenches that raised the water table and helped villagers irrigate their fields. Simultaneously,literacy programmes and measures to combat alcoholism were taken up,transforming Ralegan Siddhi in Ahmednagar district into a model village. The Ralegan Siddhi experiment made him famous. The village attracted academicians,politicians,students,NGOs and villagers from across the country. While working for village ecology and environment and also providing training to those who wanted to follow his pattern,Hazare came across a case of corruption by forest officers and went on an indefinite hunger strike in Alandi near Pune. While his agitation jolted the authorities into taking action against the erring officers,Hazare decided to go full steam ahead on combating corruption. He formed the Bhrastachar Virodhi Jan Andolan in 1991 which gradually spread across the state in the form of district-level vigilance committees. This is how Hazares campaign against corruption began,during which he realised that one of the major hurdles to prosecuting the corrupt was that official files were not accessible to the common man. He launched a campaign to demand the Right To Information in 1997 that resulted in the Maharashtra government legislating an Act which was subsequently adopted by the Centre in 2005. His latest crusade is to ensure that the Lokpal Bill has adequate teeth to take action against the corrupt who occupy high positions. Hazare is a recipient of Padma Shri and the Ramon Magsaysay Award. His detractors point out that while being at the loggerheads with the government,he has accepted the hospitality of the government,joined government panels,used government vehicles and officers,besides accepting the state governments Krushi Bhushan award. He is best known for his model village and forcing six Maharashtra ministers to resign on charges of corruption. However,he has also faced embarrassing situations. Like,when he campaigned against a minister in the Sena-BJP government Babanrao Gholap in 1998,the latter slapped a defamation case on him. Hazare was arrested,held guilty and sentenced to three months in jail. He was later acquitted in the HC. Nevertheless,Hazares Gandhian lifestyle,his distaste for politicians and consistency in pursuing an issue has earned him many followers.
